While you're in Arkansas drop by and
visit
Vision Realty, The Real Estate
Professionals.

Stroll through this complex of five exhibit buildings where artifacts and
documents depict Arkansas's history from colonial days to the modern era.
The exhibit buildings are authentic Delta structures.

Explore this complex of five exhibit buildings and learn about life on,
and the history of, Arkansas's Grand Prairie and Delta. The Main House
contains an audiovisual room and gift shop. The Summer Kitchen showcases
domestic tools and kitchen instruments of old. The Peterson Building
interprets life on the southern end of the Grand Prairie and the Delta
through exhibits and artifacts on display. Two buildings on the museum
grounds are original to the Grand Prairie. The 1877 Refeld-Hinman Loghouse
is an example of how houses were built on the prairie and throughout the
Delta. The 1933 Carnes-Bonner Playhouse, a miniature built-to-scale
version of the Carnes' family home, displays children's furnishings,
accessories, and toys.

Located nearby is the The
Arkansas Post
National Memorial. The first permanent European settlement on
the lower Mississippi River (1686) and Arkansas's first territorial
capital are commemorated by the National Memorial. The visitor
center has films and exhibits.
Watchable wildlife in the area include alligator, beaver, nutria, and
wading birds. Early travelers used the Arkansas River as a highway. Just
north of the waterway lay a land of tall grasses filled with elk, buffalo,
and deer. Explorers such as Audubon, Schoolcraft and Washington Irving
were startled at the expanse of land in this region. Stroll through this
museum's complex of five buildings and explore life on the Arkansas Grand
Prairie.

Arkansas Post Museum State Park in southeast Arkansas displays
exhibits and artifacts and presents programs about Arkansas Postóthe first
permanent European settlement in the stateóand life in the stateís
Delta region, including the Grand Prairie. It succeeded Arkansas
Post State Park, which was transferred to the National Park Service in
1964 for creation of the Arkansas Post National Memorial. The museum
complex is located at the junction of Highways 165 and 169.

The Arkansas Post State Park Commission, established by
Legislative Act 57 of 1929, acquired sixty-two acres that had been
occupied by Arkansas Post when it became the capital of Arkansas Territory
in 1819, when the territory was established. At the time of the parkís
creation, there were no structures remaining of Arkansas Post, but some
military trenches were found on the grounds. The site became Arkansasís
first historical state park. The Refeld-Hinman Log Cabin (circa 1877) was
moved about two miles to the site and served as park headquarters. The
Works Progress Administration (WPA) built overnight cabins to lodge
the commission.

In December 1953, the Grand Prairie Historical Society was
formed and began to preserve the legacy of settlers in Arkansas County's
southern territory from the establishment of the original Arkansas Post in
1686 forward. To display and protect collected artifacts, documents, and
photographs, the society created a museum and archive, incorporated in
1960 as the Arkansas Post Museum. It was housed in the Refeld-Hinman
cabin.

In 1960, Congress authorized the National Park Service to
take over and develop the Arkansas Post site. Plans called for the
national memorial to interpret Arkansas Postís history from European
settlement to the Civil War, a time frame into which the museum and the
Refeld-Hinman cabin did not fit. The museumís supporters began a
relocation effort.

In 1963, the historical society purchased two acres for a
new museum site at the intersection of Arkansas 169 and what is now U.S.
165, two miles from Arkansas Post National Memorial. In 1964, the Arkansas
County Quorum Court appropriated funds for support of the new museum. A
lawsuit challenging that action resulted in a landmark decision by the
Arkansas Supreme Court, which said that support for museums represented
valid expenditures of county funds. As a result, Arkansas Post County
Museum became the first county-supported museum in Arkansas.

Due to research into the type of architecture in use at
the time the seat of territorial government was moved from Arkansas Post
to Little Rock (Pulaski County) in 1821, the new museum included a complex
of four buildings: the main building housing the museumís earliest
artifacts along with territorial exhibits, a kitchen building, an office
building, and a carriage house. Total cost of the project was $50,124.35.
The Refeld-Hinman cabin was donated to the museum by the National Park
Service and moved to its current location in 1967.

While the museum does have some territorial and Civil War
artifacts, most of the exhibits focus on postĖCivil War life on the Delta
and the Grand Prairie along with the role agriculture played in the
settling of these areas.

Later, additional land was acquired, and a fully furnished
1933 playhouse built with a wood-burning fireplace and electrical service
was donated and relocated to the site.

The new museum was operated by the county from its opening
in July 1966 until January 1997, when it was transferred to the Arkansas
Department of Parks and Tourism, becoming Arkansas Post Museum State Park.
Native Grand Prairie plant species have since been restored to three acres
of the museumís property.

Annual special events include a Heritage Celebration in
May; Fright Night, an annual Halloween event, in October; a period
Christmas Open House and Candlelight Stroll in December; and an annual
Civil War Encampment.

Directions to Park

The museum is six miles south of Gillett
on U.S. 165 at
the junction of Arkansas 169.